Ebanour tops Winterthur Bowl field at Point-to-Point Steeplechase

Irvin S. Naylor's Ebanour, impressive winner of a race at a prime Maryland timber meet, will be the horse to beat in the $20,000 Winterthur Bowl, the featured race of the 35th annual Winterthur Point-to-Point near Wilmington on Sunday.

Irvin S. Naylor's Ebanour, impressive winner of a race at a prime Maryland timber meet, will be the horse to beat in the $20,000 Winterthur Bowl, the featured race of the 35th annual Winterthur Point-to-Point near Wilmington on Sunday.

First post time for the four-race program on the grounds of the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library is 2 p.m.

Irish-bred Ebanour drew away to a 6 1/2-length victory in the second division of the John Rush Streett Memorial maiden timber race at My Lady's Manor in Monkton, Md., on April 13.

The 6-year-old gelding is trained by Brianne Slater, who has risen to second place in the National Steeplechase Association rankings on the strength of a six-victory splurge that began with Ebanour's win. Her husband, James Slater, rode Ebanour in the Streett and will be in the saddle for the Winterthur feature.

The winner of the Streett's first division, Kinross Farm's Old Timer, also will face the starter for the 3 1/4-mile Winterthur Bowl open timber allowance. Jacob Roberts will ride the 7-year-old Orientate gelding for trainer Neil Morris.

Trainer Alicia Murphy named Mark Beecher to ride Ivy Hill Stable's On the Corner, fourth to Old Timer in the Streett division. Beecher, a rangy Irish-born jockey, is coming off a victory in the Maryland Hunt Cup aboard Professor Maxwell on April 27.

Three-time champion jockey Paddy Young was named to ride Daybreak Stables' Triple Dip, who will be looking to improve on a seventh-place finish in the $20,000 Middleburg Hunt Cup on April 20. Trained by Jimmy Day, Triple Dip finished third in the 2012 National Sporting Museum Chronicle Cup at the Virginia Fall Races before taking fourth money in the New Jersey Hunt Cup.

Reigning champion trainer Jack Fisher will saddle his Peace Fire, who will looking to make a transition to timber race after a long break from the race course. He most recently was placed third in a Saratoga Race Course optional allowance hurdle in August 2011. Sean Flanagan has the mount.

Also making a comeback from a long break is Merriefield Farm's Imperial Way, who finished third in the Grover Vandevender maiden timber race for trainer Tom Voss at the Foxfield Spring Races on April 27. Paddy Young has a double call.